Marry me?
by Rianan D' Halmsu
Summary: Where Karin claims that Hitsugaya is trying to do the unthinkable to her (false) , said person is shit confused (true), Matsumoto is being her usual bubbly self (true) and Ichigo is out for blood (truest of them all). AU.
1. Chapter 1

**I… uh, really don't know what to say except that I like HitsuKarin and I really hope that you people enjoy this fic!  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach and, in my whole pretty awesome-ish life, never will. Yeah, I tend to be an optimist. At times. When I described life to be awesome-ish. And- I should really shut up.**

**ENJOY! **

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Toshiro Hitsugaya liked formalities. It was a thing with him. They were, he felt, short, clipped and straight to the point. There were no digressions as such- perhaps a zinger sprinkled here and there, added carefully, much to the amusement of the host or, maybe, the guest.

A formal meeting was his forte. It made the job so much easier; for he was an introvert and introverts usually preferred talking as less as possible.

Screw 'usually'. It was in their _blood _to speak as less as possible.

Such a word, however, could not be described with his deceased parents' friend. Rangiku Matsumoto, his ever exuberant and hyper guardian was an extrovert. A hard core one, too. Over the past thirteen years- or, was it? Time flew to fast for him to notice—Toshiro had found himself liking his guardian's happy nature. Without the warmth the strawberry blonde unconsciously exuded his life would be empty and dull. He loved her nature.

But, at times, like now, he wished, _oh so DEARLY wished_, for the abovementioned woman to shut up. A rude thought, he felt, but he couldn't help it.

He sighed and sipped his tea, vaguely registering Matsumoto animatedly talking to, whose name was, if Toshiro remembered correctly, Ishin Kurosaki. The black haired man with the funny beard-Toshiro frowned. _Funny?_-was talking to Matsumoto, his voice ringing out with pure happiness and ebullience. Toshiro felt like shoving himself into a bed full of pillows to get rid of the loud noise.

There were no pillows, much to his complete displeasure, he noted, shifting in his seat on the sofa.

Beside the noisy man was Yuzu Kurosaki, a sweet girl from what he could tell, with caramel hair and a sweet smile. She was married, he noted, his eyes glancing blithely at the ring she was tracing with her index finger. Beside the sweet girl was, much to his displeasure (_again), _an orange haired man.

Toshiro had figured that the orange haired man was a delinquent, seeing as to how he frowned and how his hair was, well, _orange_. But, after realizing that Ichigo- he learned that such was his name from the black haired creature seated next to Yuzu- was an Engineer, a pretty great one at that, Toshiro immediately stopped thinking of Ichigo as a mere delinquent. It was blatantly obvious that he wasn't.

The strawberry (the name was easier to remember that way) had taken a liking to glaring at him. An over protective brother, he mused, glaring right back, his icy look startling Ichigo. Toshiro knew for a fact that over-protective brothers preferred having their sisters as innocent and un-married as possible.

The word 'married' brought him back to the real world and he stifled a groan. His teal eyes travelled and locked with Ichigo's, who was glaring at him with as much passion as he could muster up. Toshiro tossed him a glare of his own, with the same amount of passion, an amused smirk playing on his lips.

He didn't bother acting nice and meek. After all, he wasn't really interested in marrying someone. He preferred staying on his own, thank you very much.

His smirk dropped when he noticed that Ichigo wasn't glaring at him anymore, a look in his amber eyes which made Toshiro feel as if the carrot top was _approving _of his behavior. He wasn't really sure whether or not to pride himself over the fact that an over protective brother was _supporting _him. Instead, he frowned, ever so lightly.

He wanted to call off the marriage. Sure, there was a thing about the ones to be married liking each other, but that would mean that he would have to spend some time with the completely unknown girl. It wasn't that he disliked girls- he liked them. He was _straight_, unlike what his cousin, Hinamori, thought. It was just that… girls annoyed him.

Mostly because he tended to get raped by them.

Okay, perhaps not '_raped'_,per se, but something of that sort.

His sea green eyes flickered towards the clock. He stifled yet _another_ groan. One hour. He had been sitting on the couch for an hour! The thought made him wince, and he had the pursuing urge to strangle Matsumoto.

"So, can we meet the girl?" Matsumoto. _Again._

This time he didn't bother hiding a groan.  
**.**

**.**

**.**

Karin looked at herself in the mirror, pride enveloping her mind. If she had known that she was this awesome at putting on makeup, she would have definitely tried a different career. Not that she hated being a psychologist.

Her face itched with the amount of makeup she had applied, but tried to ignore it. Her forehead sweat and she thanked god that whatever she had put on her face didn't smudge because of sweat. Then again, she wouldn't really mind.

She looked at her reflection. She had changed a lot, she noted for the first time, not the scrawny eleven years old she was. Her hair was longer, for one, reaching a bit past her shoulder. Other than that, she still felt the same. Yuzu would state otherwise, saying that she was _beautiful. _Karin would roll her eyes. The one with the beauty was Yuzu. Karin never really cared for her looks.

That was the reason why she smiled at herself, admiring the view on the mirror. The black lipstick she had applied stood out, giving an ominous effect. She had kept her hair loose, making sure that they fell over her eyes. Applying those red blush thingies was a good idea, she felt. The colors clashed with each other sickeningly, making Karin smile.

The smile soon deflated, and she sighed in defeat.

The idea was stupid, she knew. Dressing up as medieval times' witch or a gothic lady wasn't really her thing, and she was sure that her family would be disappointed in her. At least Yuzu would- Ichigo didn't really seem to mind whether or not she married, and her father was, she was sure, doing this because he liked 'matchmaking'. Previously she had felt that only _girls _were interested in such an atrociously boring 'game' but, clearly, she had thought wrong.

She didn't want to be married. Not so early. Granted she was twenty-four already and that Yuzu was married and pregnant, but she _wasn't _Yuzu. She was a young, free lady who preferred travelling to looking after kids or a husband. Staying put wasn't really her forte. Leaning towards being an introvert sucked.

Then again, she preferred keeping things to herself. That itself was a known fact.

She looked at herself at the mirror again, and took in a deep, shuddering breath. Her confidence resurfaced and—

"So, can we meet the girl?"

_Shit._

- promptly disappeared.

'Okay, calm down.' she thought furiously, shaking her head.

Her unlikely-to-be fiancé's/ husband's name was Hitsugay… wait, not 'gay'…

_Shit. _She cursed. Forgetting a person's _name_ was an insult to said person. Not that she cared, but the last thing she wanted was this guy to think that she was impolite. Then again, it really didn't matter. Maybe.

Gaya! Yeah, his name was Hitsugaya something. She cursed herself, swearing. Why couldn't she have heard what Yuzu was saying? She paused and swore under her breath. He had seen the guy's picture, and even _she _had to admit—he was handsome. Overly so. He made girls want to kiss him senseless. At least that's what Yuzu had pegged him as.

For Karin, he was just… handsome and…just. No more words. Period.

As mentioned above, she wasn't ready for marriage and apparently one hour had passed in a minute. She defined marriage as 'downright annoying' and 'stupid'.

'_It's not stupid._' Her brother had argued once_, 'I am married to Rukia and I live a happy life.'_

She had glared at him, claiming, _'At least you have Rukia! And Sora! I don't _want_ kids!'_

Ichigo had sighed, knowing that she had a huge point.

"Karin?" it took the mentioned woman just a millisecond to recognize the voice. It was Yuzu, her twin. She could recognize that voice anywhere. Karin turned around and smiled, forgetting about the state of her face.

Her face's state soon came to her knowledge when Yuzu screamed, hysterically, "Holy fuck!"

Karin winced, as if the words had stung her. She could never get used to Yuzu using profanities. Cute girls, she felt, weren't _supposed _to use such words. Yuzu was cute, but underneath all that cuteness, she could still be a demon. Karin found it funny.

She turned and stared again at the mirror, reveling Yuzu's reaction.

"Karin-chan, what have you _done _to yourself?!" Yuzu's hushed voice travelled to her ears. Karin's smirk grew wider, and she turned around. Before leaving the room with an indolent pat on Yuzu's shoulder, she murmured only one word—

"Makeup."  
**.**

**.**

Toshiro Hitsugaya's eyes widened when he saw the girl, - Karin, was it?- blanching.

Karin Kurosaki's breath hitched when she saw him. In real life he was… was… like an ice made sculpture. Stunningly handsome.

Their eyes met, silently, briefly. Teal and gray. An imperfect combination.

Oddly, nobody seemed to notice her arrival, which was kind of surprising, seeing as to how she seemed so astonishing. Toshiro wondered if that was the right adjective. She opened her mouth, as if trying to speak, before a pair of fragile, milky white hands clasped onto her mouth, making the raven-haired gurgle in frustration, before being promptly taken to another room. By the sound of another door clicking shut, Toshiro figured that it was the bathroom.

He blinked, surprised.

Karin, after being rudely dragged into the bathroom, glared at Yuzu. She crossed her arms over her chest, defending herself. Throwing Yuzu another ill-meant glare, she asked, "What do _you _want?"

Yuzu glared right back, her honey-colored eyes narrowing into slits. She stared accusingly at Karin, standing akimbo, her pink frock moving with her movement. Her lips were dipped up into a frown, her eyebrow heads almost meeting each other in an adorable way. Not the correct word to describe Yuzu with in such a situation, Karin felt.

Karin asked the same question again, but with more poison in her voice. Apparently the poison had not seeped through Yuzu's mind, or maybe it was because she was used to Karin's petulance, because she glared right back, somehow the poison exceeding the tomboy's, "I want you to _get rid of that makeup!_" she screamed and Karin grumbled.

"Why?" she asked, "It's not that I want to marry!"

Yuzu glared again, "Karin, we talked about this before! Marriage is a beautiful thing! Look at Jinta and me!"

Karin shuddered. Jinta and Yuzu were freely intimate with each other and she had actually, by mistake, seen them during their make-out session. It was just a peak, though. The image, burned into her mind, had left her in the bathroom, throwing up in the sink. That night she had refused to eat. Jinta sometimes claimed that she was actually jealous over the fact that Yuzu was married and Karin was anything but.

Karin sighed and turned around, ignoring Yuzu.

"Get it off!" Yuzu screamed once more, the venom in her voice making Karin shudder in fear. She tried to mask a defiant look and replied as a negative. Yuzu, hearing her reply, clutched Karin by her shoulders and looked at her, their eyes locked, "Get. That. Makeup. _Off._"

Much to her own surprise, Karin agreed the next second.

**.**

**.**

When Toshiro had seen Karin, he had blanched. Her appearance had taken him by surprise. In the picture, she had looked different, definitely not like the image he had seen a few minutes back. The _Karin_, however, in front of him, seated nervously on the couch opposite to his looked nothing like… like that _thing_ he had seen before. This woman before him was astonishing. And this was, he felt, the correct word to describe her with.

She was beautiful, but not in a sweet dainty way. She looked ruggedly beautiful, a bit aggressive, one could add. There was a tiny scar on her left eyebrow, partially hidden by her hair, but even he could say that she didn't mean to hide it. She looked as if she didn't really care about her looks- her untrimmed hair and un-manicured nails relayed that. She wore shorts, reaching a bit above her knees, and an oversized shirt. Her raven hair was tied into a loose ponytail, locks of hair sometimes escaping the band's hold, sliding out, making her huff in frustration.

Sometimes their eyes would meet in furtive glances. Apart from those looks, Karin mainly ignored him.

He liked that.

Silence passed between them, in its awkward grasp. Both weren't really sure how to react to such a situation. Beside the male was Matsumoto, answering in her loud voice to Ishin's anecdotes with, 'Yes!'s and 'No, that can't be!'s

Karin wanted to escape, preferring to stay in the comfort zone- mainly where Ichigo and Yuzu resided.

Toshiro wanted to go back to his house, sip a cup of coffee and got to bed, _without _a girl to accompany him. Surely, he felt, such a simple wish wouldn't be accomplished. For some reason, he felt like SuperMan. He didn't bother wondering why.

"Toshiro-kun," Ishin said, directing his thought to the brooding male, who he hoped was his future son-in-law, "why don't you and Karin-chan talk?"

Karin's grip on the sofa tightened and she narrowed her eyes, glaring pointedly at Ishin. Toshiro shrugged, glaring at Rangiku. An awkward silence elapsed, unknown to the two overly-excited forty plus adults. Karin almost sighed in relief when Toshiro refused to speak.

"Why don't we leave them alone?" Matsumoto suggested, leaning forward in excitement. Ishin grinned at her, and agreed, adding that the two needed to know each other. Soon, both disappeared into wherever Yuzu and Ichigo were.

When she was busy with wiping out the makeup, Karin had pretty much formulated a plan, and she was surprised by her boldness. What surprised her more was the fact that such an idea had come to her mind in such a confusing situation. She had thought that her mind would go blank and that she'd just stare stupidly at space, her mouth parted in. Not that she ever did that, but she felt that such a reaction would escape her.

As soon as the elders disappeared, Karin figured that it was her time to take up the stage. Unceremoniously, she put her legs on the table and looked at him with, what she termed as 'Flirtingly', and, keeping her elbows ensconced on the sofa's head, waved, grinning, "Yo dawg."

She winced mentally. She never really understood the point behind adding a 'dawg' in the end of the sentence. It sounded overly stupid and downright creepy. With doctors it didn't bode well not until and unless said doctor was taking up raping, in which case it made sense. Nonetheless, she tossed him another grin, and said, "You look like an asshole," she paused and added, "dawg." The chuckle which escaped her throat surprised even her. Despite its stupidness, it still sounded funny.

He looked nothing like an asshole, though. Even when she had failed to squeeze a reaction out of him.

She paused. This wasn't how she had expected the event to unfold. Or, from her point of view, un-unfold. She was damn sure that the word 'un-unfold' didn't make any sense at all.

She remembered Yuzu saying something about Toshiro's parents dying. A part of her felt that bringing the topic up, perhaps add an insult or two in the middle, casually, granted. This would, she was sure, make him angry. She paused and instantly felt like hitting herself.

She couldn't believe that she had just thought that!

The logical part of her, the part which cared, the part which _knew_ how it felt to lose a precious person admonished the desperate part and even Karin had to agree with the logical part of her mind. Her mother's death had hit her hard. She couldn't help but wonder since when had she become so low. In his case, losing _two _precious people must have been maddening.

She took the time, busy in her own musings, to observe him.

As stated before, he was very, _very _handsome. So handsome that despite adding a 'very' and another 'very' with italics really didn't cut it. His skin was tanned- a person interested in outdoors sports, perhaps?- but not much. She could tell that he was pretty fair, with white hair, like a sea, the waves overlapping each other. Teal eyes stared ahead, boredom evident in his gaze.

White hair and teal eyes. A startling combination.

Huh.

He wore a teal shirt with a dark blue collar, and the deep blue cargos fitted him loosely.

_I wish he'd smile… _ Karin paused and wondered how such a thought had come to infest her mind in the first place. Grey eyes slid into slits, _He does frown a lot…_

"If you have finished scrutinizing me, can we please call your family and get over this already?"

Broken from her reverie, Karin's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. It took her a moment to realize that the person to speak was the man in front of him.

_He has an amazing voice. So smooth._

She really considered sitting over there and continue hearing his voice. It was out worldly- a perfect mixture of smoothness and gruffness.

As the words processed in her mind, she could tell that he wasn't really hell bent on spending time with her. As a psychologist, she could see from his body language- the slight wrinkle of his brow, the distaste in his voice- that he _really _didn't want to spend any time with her.

A sigh of relief escaped her mouth, and her shoulders drooped in happiness.

Toshiro had a sharp ear- a healthy amount of interest in music kept his ears sharp. It didn't take him more than a millisecond to know she was happy. He knew he was _not _supposed to feel insulted- he preferred keeping his emotions in check- but he couldn't help but feel exactly that.

Somehow, he seemed to like the fact that she wasn't really interested in him.

"You don't want to marry me, right?" Expectation. Hope.

He looked incredulously at her, as if to say, 'You realize that _now?'_

Karin noticed the look, and raised her hand, quite boyishly, he felt, defending herself, "Hey, I had to take precautions, okay?"

'Precautions?' he rose an inquiring eyebrow at her, but she pretended not to notice.

Instead, she removed her feet from the table, murmuring an apology for her impertinence, got up, walked up to him, flopped herself beside him and started unbuttoning her shirt.

Karin almost reprimanded herself for doing something so atrociously stupid (again), mainly because he seemed like a nice person and she felt a bit guilty tainting his golden reputation. _But, _she thought, _I need an excuse for dad and Yuzu to disapprove of him. _He seemed too perfect. Yuzu's choice. Matsumoto also seemed to have taken a liking to Karin. The tomboy did not understand why. That, and Ishin seemed to like Toshiro a lot. A disadvantage on both ends.

Karin bit her inner cheek, the sudden situation ringing with hilarity all of a sudden. She finished unbuttoning the final button and turned to Toshiro, who had a look on his face. Boredom and disappointment, Karin could tell.

Karin had analyzed his emotions correctly- he _was _bored and _overly _disappointed. Bored because he was used to the routine and disappointed because he was, well, _disappointed _in her. He wasn't psychic as such, but something had whispered to him, telling him that this girl, this _beauty_, would be different. Different, how, he didn't know, but something had told him.

He shrugged, non-committed, and decided that he shouldn't ever listen to weird voices telling him weird things. They were usually wrong.

Toshiro watched her wearily and, unsurprisingly, she didn't feel self conscious at all- the vest she wore inside her shirt being the reason. In his case he was just… just staring

She looked at him apologetically.

He stared, bemused, _Apologetically?_

Next moment she yanked him by the collar, jerking his head; ensconcing her back on the couch's seat, she pulled him towards her. Startled by the sudden movement, he shut his eyes and a fleeting though passed his mind, _On the couch? Seriously?! Your family is in the next room!_

Despite the look he was sending her, she pretended not to notice it.

"Hitsugaya, right?" her voice broke in through his thoughts. Dazed, he nodded.

Karin congratulated herself for remembering his name. She hated suffixes, so she did not bother adding one. Perhaps it was rude, but she did not care because the next thing she was about to do was worse. "Put your hand on my shoulder." She ordered.

"What…?" he asked dumbly.

"Just do it!"

He obliged, albeit reluctantly. She paused and murmured, "This doesn't seem right…"

Toshiro had the greatest urge to agree and get the hell away from her. Her nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction, and her eyebrows furrowed. She looked to her side, contemplating.

Seeing her in such an adorable state, Toshiro had to resist the urge to run his hand soothingly over her skin. He blanched.  
_Soothingly?_

As if she had just made up her mind, she got rid of the rubber band tying her hair, and let it fall on the floor. She splayed her hair and ruffled it. Next, she took a glass from the table and splashed the water on her face. Satisfied with her work, she put it back on the table, and looked at him.

Toshiro took this time to observe their positions. His face was further away from hers, his hand set beside her waist, the other hanging mid-air. His left thigh was in between her legs, and he partially stood on his right leg. An intimate pose, one would describe it as such, but it felt nothing like that.

She murmured, "Listen, Hitsugaya, I am really sorry to do this. My family needs proof. They are a bit…" she paused and nibbled her bottom lip, searching for the correct word (at this point Toshiro was resisting the urge to kiss her- she really had perfect, full formed lips). Finding none, she continued, "well, y'know how they are."

Toshiro thought that nodding was the best action, but did not.

She paused and whispered, "All I need you to do is put a hand over my mouth when I start screaming. Try to make it as realistic as possible."

Toshiro let the words process in his mind. He got everything except for the realistic and screaming bit.

"What do you mean by-"

She screamed.

**.**

.

Ichigo was the sort of person who cared. He was the sort of person who would go through hell just to ensure that his precious people lived a good and a happy life.

Despite his rough looks and his strong nature, he was really a softy inside.

There were not many people who he could really hate- except for Aizen. That bastard of a person had actually _tried_ to kidnap Orihime when they were seventeen. Currently, he was in a prison.

This hatred had even reached Jinta- _That idiot thinks he can marry _**my **_sister and live with it?! Hell no!—_but that hatred had reduced to nothing but a small, insignificant speck of fire, seeing as to how Jinta was committed to her. It was plain obvious that Jinta would never hurt Yuzu.

Slowly, very slowly, he had come to like the red haired brat, even though he was a year too late. Not that it really mattered. Yuzu had been ecstatic and Karin had just sighed and murmured, _Finally__._

When the topic of his other sister's marriage was being discussed, he knew this much—Karin definitely needed a strong person to take care of her. 'Strong'- he meant it mentally rather that physically. Of course he didn't approve his sister's marriage with a stick.

And though he hated to admit it, this guy—Toshiro Hitsugaya— Ichigo approved of him. The icy look he had given him, how the teal-eyed man did not fear him…

Ichigo knew that he was the ideal man for him.

Ichigo reddened when his words processed through his mind. _NOT IN THAT WAY!, _He thought, _ideal man for me to accept. For Karin._

"And then, and then, the waitress said that he is not allowed to do it on the table!" Ishin's exuberant voice rang out again for the umpteenth time, and Rangiku doubled over, laughing like crazy. Ishin gleamed and Yuzu gave a slight smile, before excusing herself, claiming that she needed to use the bathroom.

Immersed in his thoughts, Ichigo failed to notice when Yuzu's foot 'accidently' tread over the old man's foot, the glare in her eyes conveying: _Do __**not **__tell perverted jokes!_

Ichigo winced when Ishin yelped, earning a 'Ishin-san, are you alright?' from the strawberry blonde. Ishin whimpered and dismissively waved his hand.

Ichigo let his mind travel back to Toshiro. What had clearly impressed Ichigo was that when he had glared at Toshiro, the teal eyed man had glared _right back_. A lot like Rukia, he thought. People usually recoiled in fear, strangers more so.

But he had not.

So, with these happy thoughts, he felt that he wouldn't really mind if Karin and Hitsugaya ended up in a relationship. Or, hell, even if they _married _each other.

This thought immediately disappeared from his mind, a few seconds later, when a scream penetrated his thoughts.

…**.**

….

**So, how was it? Liked it?**

**My back is aching. I have been hunched over the laptop for so long… ugh….  
Please review! :3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally! The second chapter of Marry Me? ! I hope you guys like this chapter! Thank you people foe your AWESOME reviews!**

**You guys are AWESOME!**

**Enjoy!~**

…**.**

….

If Karin hadn't told Hitsugaya to cover her mouth with his hand, he felt that he would have _still_ covered her mouth. Minutes before he had found himself in an awkward position, and this was, he felt, awkward-er. If such a word even existed in the dictionary. He doubted that that was the case, and he felt that knowing the answer wasn't the correct thing to know currently.

His hand found her mouth and he clasped it as quickly as possible. His eyebrows shot up and eyes widened in surprise. Shaking his head to get rid of the astonishment, he lowered himself, his lips near her ear, whispering in a hushed tone, "_What _are you doing?!"

He realized that instead of waiting for an answer, - not that he would get one; his hand on her mouth assured that- getting up was the best option, before anyone saw him; _them_.

He tried getting up, and did so, partially, however.

While he was trying to get up, and had actually succeeded doing so, he had complimented his athletic nature. The next moment when he had comically slipped, courtesy of the carpet placed under his foot, he had harshly criticized his one hell of a dreadful athletic nature, which apparently seemed to have taken a liking to betraying him in desperate moments.

Like when he was being chased by a dog, at the age of ten. He had hit a lamp post then.

Which is not the point here.

He slipped and knocked the breath out of Karin. She gasped in pain and surprise. He supposed that he should be feeling guilty, but for some reason he was not.

He groaned in frustration and cursed silently. His chin rested on her shoulder, his nose close to the nape of her neck and he tried his best to not blush. His body was tightly pressed against hers and he could _smell _her- a faint smell of peach, no doubt because of the soap she used, and earth. Athletic. He had no doubt about that.

He could feel the heat radiating from her. But maybe it was he, himself.

_Get up, Toshiro_, he ordered himself, _you have done more stuff other than falling on attractive girls!_ The implication was perverted, he knew, but somehow he didn't seem to be bothered by it. In fact, he found himself blushing- something he never did _that _much. Okay, maybe he did, but he _was _highly embarrassed by his previous height. At sixteen, he looked like a thirteen year old kid—not exactly something to be proud of.

He obliged to his own previous request and got up. Floundering about, shifting his hand, trying to _not _blush wildly despite knowing how _close _they were, he used his hand as a support and got up.

During the process of which he had accidently groped her chest.

And _that _was exactly when things went _horribly _wrong.

As fate- that cruel, sick, bastard of a thing- would have it, exactly at _that _moment, the door to where Matsumoto and the others resided had to open, revealing said woman, a caramel haired girl, a black haired man and a pissed of orange haired man. Strangely, the first eyes which caught Toshiro's gaze were amber ones. Furious, deadly, lethal and poisonous amber eyes.

The only thought which passed Toshiro's mind was, _'Holy fuck, I am so dead.' _

It was the first time he had thought of something like that, and though it surprised him, he pretended not to be.

Toshiro watched with morbid fascination as series of colorful emotions passed through the elder brother's face—ranging from shock, to anger, to hatred, to I-want-to-kill-you-look and then to the previously mentioned emotions combined. It was a deadly combination, and, to Toshiro, this deadliness would, he was sure, kill him.

"You little piece of shit!" her brother screamed.

"You fucking asshole!" Surprisingly, the one to say this was the older Kurosaki twin, using words no one would have thought the caramel haired Kurosaki could utter. Toshiro's hair whipped towards the doe-eyed Kurosaki's direction whose eyes looked nothing like the eyes of a doe's. Instead, it looked deadly. Lesser than that of Ichigo's, but, c'mon, how does one feel if one sees little hamsters with huge bloodlust and bloodshot eyes?

Scary shit, no doubt.

And that is how Yuzu looked.

Toshiro's head whipped back to Ichigo's direction in fear. Though Rangiku looked angry, it was nothing compared to Ichigo's and Yuzu's anger. Surprisingly, though, Isshin seemed impassive and calm, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed over his chest, his lips curled up.

'_He knows-!'_

Apparently their father was damn sure that nobody would notice him. And it was blatantly obvious that Isshin was happy to not help him.

Karin was, meanwhile, blushing furiously. That bastard was groping her. _Groping _her for Buddha's sake! She had the hugest urge to crush his head against her perfectly loved wall and see him bleed to death. A part of her was about to do just that, before the part which analyzed stuff chided the part who was about to murder the white haired man. At first Karin wondered why, but when she analyzed the position, she realized how realistic this looked.

She smiled.

Toshiro was trying to deny the accusation, fumbling and murmuring like a child, "Kurosaki-san, I-"

"Ichi-nii, he tried to rape me!"came Karin's-somehow-broken-and- terrified-voice, her body shaking pathetically. Toshiro's head whipped towards Karin's eyes—eyes which somehow seemed to form tear drops—while she squirmed helplessly. Streams of salty water emerged and she whimpered, her voice realistic.

"Toshiro!" Ichigo screeched and Toshiro was almost wanted to tell him to add a 'san' after his name. Figuring that such a sentence would get him into deep trouble, (not that he wasn't in one already) he kept quite. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was die. Or get eaten by humans. Or get eaten by dogs. Or get roasted like a hapless white marshmallow who has met his death 50 years too early.

Or 60, but that's beside the point.

"Hitsugaya-san!" Despite the situation, Toshiro was actually glad that Yuza had added a 'san' after his name and had also addressed to him by 'Hitsugaya', instead of a simple, unadorned 'Toshiro' he had received from the elder Kurosaki male, who was, from his point of view, very, _very _offensive.

"Taicho!" Matsumot's voice held deep, penetrating poison and Toshiro flinched at the tone. He turned his head towards his guardian, trying to fruitlessly explain. His vision met three angry faces.

"I-"

"He tried to rape me! Get him of me… please… Yuzu…" she managed to impersonate a broken lady.

If Toshiro was not in this current position and if his role was being replaced by, say, Renji, he would have actually believed that someone was attempting to rape her.

She should have been an actress, he mused, but screamed, "I was not!" Turning toward Ichigo, he said, "Kurosaki-san, I swear-!"

A curt, angry and a very-male voice cut his explanation, "Why is your filthy hand on her chest, then?!"

Toshiro started, and, as if electricity had passed between them, blushed furiously, and jerked his hand away. He tried to apologise, but Karin shoved him off with a punch on his stomach, throwing him unceremoniously on the ground. As if gaining her freedom for the first time in twenty four years, she ran, stumbling, and crashed onto Yuzu, still crying.

Correction: _Pretending _to cry.

Yuzu embraced Karin soothingly, whilst glaring vehemently at Toshiro.

Ichigo glanced at Karin, at her broken state, seeing her whimper like… like _that_, and it intensified his burning anger. He growled, menacingly, cracking his knuckles and taking unhealthy amounts of steps forward, "You bastard… you little _sick son of a-_"

Breaking his chains of rather offending words was, surprisingly, Isshin Kuroasaki. The eldest male of the family stepped in, his gaze stern, "Ichigo, that's enough."

Ichigo's eyes widened in withheld surprise and incredulity, "Demo, oyajii-!"

"Enough." He repeated, his eyes flickering towards Karin, hoping that his eldest child would get the message.

"Dad, he tried to _rape _Karin while we were right in the next room! The nerve of him!"

"Stop." His father said again, his eyes this time flickering towards Matsumato, sure that Ichigo would never ever in his life get the previous message. That was how dense Ichigo was. It took the carrot top five- _freaking-_ years to realize that he was in love with Rukia, after all.

"He should be killed! Crucified, boiled, murdered, stabbed-"

"Listen-!"

"No, _you _listen!"

"Ichigo." He warned, his eyes turning toward Matsumoto. Somehow, Ichigo got the clear message- a host should always be polite to his guests. Ichigo grit his teeth and if he were in a humorous mood, he would have rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Weren't _you_ the one to tell the perverted jokes in the first place?"

He sighed and glared at Toshiro, who was, surprisingly, quite all the while, "And you," he said again, "if it weren't for my dad" – he glared at Isshin—"I would have fucking killed you. Got that?"

Toshiro got the feeling that Ichigo wasn't joking.

"But." The carrot top spoke again, "since you did not complete"—he clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to shred him into minuscule pieces "_it,_I am going to leave you, you sick, fucking—"

"Ichii-nii." Karin warned, parting from Yuzu's grasp.

Toshiro wasn't really sure whether to thank her preventing him from getting into more trouble or to scowl at her for getting him into this mess in the first place. He chose the second option, a flicker of hate burning in his stomach. Flicker, mind, because he could not get to hate her all out.

Yuzu made an attempt to to hug Karin again, but, like the calm after a storm, the sad and broken look she had on her face previously, disappeared, replaced by...a simple look. She shook her head and murmured, "I'm alright. I just need to rest. Shock, you know."

_Shock, my foot. _Toshiro thought.

"Ichi-nii." She said, turning towards her elder brother, "leave it."

Ichigo looked at her angrily. What was up with his family?! Isshin seemed nonchalant over the fact that _Karin- _his daughter - was about to be raped, her innocence snatched away from her! And Karin, too?! She was the one who was about to suffer through a lifetime of trauma and depression! How could she take it so lightly?!

The look on Karin's face kept him quiet, and he nodded, agreeing, a bit reluctantly.

Karin nodded in Ichigo's direction, feeling guilty. She looked at Toshiro, who had taken a liking to glare at her—not that she blamed him—and almost simpered. She held back the simper, sure that such a 'serious' situation wasn't the correct place to flaunt one.

"Yuzu…" she said, quietly, buttoning her shirt with fumbling hands, "let's… let's go up…"

Yuzu agreed, asking worriedly, "Are you alright, Karin-chan?"

Karin answered as a positive, and was slowly taken to her room by Yuzu, who glared accusingly at Toshiro all the while.

After the two disappeared, Toshiro attempted to get up; Karin's punch finally taking its toll. He winced in pain; she had one hell of a punch, despite being so skinny. A part of him found it amazing while the other chided him, saying that he was an asshole finding the fact that a _girl _was capable of hurting him amazing. He decided to ignore the other parts of his mind.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ichigo screamed, seeming to have forgotten Karin's and his father's previous orders. Said father sighed in defeat, aghast by his son's stupidity. Then again, Yuzu, a bright child, herself had not recognized that the whole thing was an act.

He snorted silently. And people called _him _dumb.

He sighed and gently patted Matsumoto's shoulder. Snapped out her reverie, the strawberry blonde looked at Isshin, his chin pointed up, prompting her to look at the duo.

Her sky blue eyes did just that.

It was obvious that he was trying to tell her something. She looked at the duo; Toshiro snapping at Ichigo, Ichigo giving colorful threats; both ready to break each other's necks. It didn't take her long to find out what Ishin was trying to tell her.

Suddenly, she came in between Ichigo and Toshiro, snatched Toshiro's wrist, murmured, "You, sir, are going to have a serious talk with me.", bowed, and then left as if nothing had happened. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder how abrupt the whole situation was.

He looked, confused, at Isshin, who shrugged, non-committed, and busied himself with a chocolate cake.

**.  
.**

Outside, Toshiro feared the worst. Matsumoto was a feminist of sort, and she really _hated _it when girls were molested, raped or thought to be the lower gender.

'_If there were no women,' _she would say, _'mankind would have seized to _exist! _People should respect women!'_

Toshiro would just nod, while Hinamori would join Rangiku, her exuberant voice ringing out with both anger and jubilance.

He knew that he should explain, but when he thought of the correct words to choose, he realized how stupid it would sound. "Kurosaki was acting it all out!"

Pfft. As if she'd believe him.

He looked at the mass of strawberry blonde hair, bobbing up and down, the owner of said hair dragging him furiously. She shut the door behind him and turned around, her gaze furious. Toshiro gulped in nervousness.

And, then, she laughed. Her voice rang out, like bells on Christmas, finding the whole situation to damn funny. The hilarity was, however, lost to Toshiro. He blinked in confusion and asked dumbly, "Wh… what…?"

Matsumoto paused to gaze at his face—the childlike confusion, innocence, and cuteness—and laughed harder, clutching onto her sides, and sticking out a trembling finger in front of him. Toshiro looked at the finger, confusion increasing. Her sky blue eyes, almost mauve, lit with ebullience.

Toshiro found it annoying, "Matsumoto." He growled.

Abovementioned woman ignored him, laughing harder at his blank, blank stare. Coming to a forced halt, she said, giggling between words, "The whole ordeal…" she giggled, "it… it was…" another giggle, "…. So funny!" she burst into another set of giggles.

Toshiro's perplexed gaze never left her. If he was supposed to be happy over the fact that Matsumoto wasn't screaming at him, he was missing one helluva chance.

"You… you are not angry." It was not a question.

Rangiku paused and stared at him. She snorted, "Of course not. Seeing as to how Isshin-san was reacting to the whole thing, I figured it out. Besides," she added, "it's _you _we are talking about. I know the sort of person you are."

"Why didn't you help me!" he screamed.

"Eh?"

"I was being accused of doing something I would never do in my life! They thought I was trying to _rape _her, Rangiku! I had to receive that…. That _bullshit _ from Kurosaki!"

Rangiku snickered, "Sorry, sorry," her gaze took a reminiscing look, "I just wanted to enjoy."

"_Matsumoto!" _he growled.

"Yeah, yeah." She murmured, distractedly, turning around to leave the front of the house. Toshiro's incredulous gaze followed his guardian, staring at her shaking shoulders. He sighed, stuffed his hand in his pocket and followed his surrogate mother.

In a way, the situation _was _funny. If he were to ignore the after effects, that is.

Deep in his musings, he jerked when his phone vibrated. He cursed under his breath, and flipped open the phone, gazing at the screen.

A message. From an unknown number.

He selected the SMS and stared at the screen, bemused.

**[Got ur no. 4rm Yuzu. Dat was stupid, wasn't it? Didn't get the chance to apologize. Srry. :( ****]**

He stared at the screen, bemused still. Instinctively, his gaze flickered towards the Kurosaki household, glancing briefly at the sign 'Kurosaki Clinic', before travelling towards familiar grey eyes. The owner of those eyes smiled at him sheepishly, forcing him to smirk.

Without waiting, he texted back, somehow excited.

**[Nah, it's alright.]**

He looked at the screen and pressed the 'sent' button. Toshiro saw Karin looking at her screen, before giving him a nod, an apologetic smile, before disappearing from his peripheral vision. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and walked forward, something feeling down. Off. Wrong.

He felt as if he were supposed to tell her something else, but he could not understand what exactly.

He knew he was attracted to her, and though not romantically, he wanted to meet her again. Desperately.

He took out his phone, flipped open the screen, clicking the 'message' option. He stared blankly at the blinking line, not really sure what to do. A frown.

His fingers seemed to have a mind of their own.

**[U owe me. Wht abt a coffee sometime… say, this Thursday?]**

Before he knew it himself, his thumb had pressed the 'sent' option. He paused.

_Shit._

Desperately, fumbling, he tried to cancel the request. They had just met! Despite the incident which followed, they were strangers! Goddamn strangers! This was wrong and embarrassing on so many levels!

The mocking 'Your message has been successfully sent' stared at him and he resisted the urge to break the phone into pieces. Ironic part was the fact that he felt just like Ichigo.

"Gah." He again stuffed the phone in his pocket and glared accusingly at his fingers. His fingers stared back at him, as if grinning. Vaguely hearing Matsumoto call out to him, he contemplated on breaking his fingers. A tempting option.

Deep in his thoughts, he jumped like a baby when his phone started vibrating again, this time followed by a ring.

'_Baby? Seriously? I am 24 for heaven's sake!'_

Someone was calling him.

Clenching his jaw, his teal eyes stared at the screen, and unconsciously accepted the call. He pressed the phone against his ear, and immediately a voice spoke up.

"_So, the great Hitsugaya Toshiro is asking me out on a date, huh?"_

Despite having known her for a short period of time, he could see her; eyebrows raised, a smirk on her lips, teasingly, tapping the phone on her bottom lip, in a half concealed tease.

His lips curved up.

"Yes."

A wind blew, ruffling with his hair, making the scarf he wore flutter.

"Yes, I am."

**~R~D~H~**

**So, what do you guys think? I really like HitsuKarin and though in the recent months, it had decreased a lot, but, now, after reading a few awesome fics, the my love for HitsuKarin is back again!**

**Reviews are always welcome. ;)**


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